Walsh fears for Rodgers' work as Maguire gets set to leave Leicester
Leicester City legend Steve Walsh believes the potential sale of Harry Maguire to Manchester United would potentially undo Brendan Rodgers’ good work in the transfer window.
The England international is subject of an £80million offer from the Red Devils after Leicester previously turned down a bid of £70million earlier this summer.
Should the offer for the 26-year-old be accepted it would be a new world-record transfer fee for a defender, eclipsing the £75million Liverpool paid Southampton for Virgil van Dijk in 2018.
And having been impressed with Rodgers’ transfer business to this point, Walsh has urged Leicester to do everything in their power to hold on to Maguire.
“Harry Maguire is a key player and it’s very late in the window so if we were to lose him now it would just kind of upset things for me a little bit,” said Walsh.
“We have a big squad and we need to trim down a bit with players that he doesn’t need, but Brendan will have a plan and a list of the players he will want to bring in.
“I think we’re pretty much covered now in a lot of areas so I think Brendan will be happy. I think he has a contingency plan if Maguire goes.
“If Maguire does go then I think he goes with experience at the start of the season with Wes Morgan, but it’s going to be an interesting week ahead.
“I just hope that Harry stays. It’s a lot of money, it’s something like £80 million. He’s an England number one now, first choice, his style of football playing from the back is the way forward.”
Leicester have already signed Ayoze Perez from Newcastle United for £30million and made Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans a permanent member of the squad.
Tielemans was on loan at the Foxes last season and while Walsh was delighted to see him return to the east midlands club, he expects Rodgers to do more business before the window shuts.
“Brendan Rodgers needed to pin down Youri Tielemens that was very important to get that signature as he was an integral part of the club for half of the season,” said Walsh.
“Perez obviously is a lot of money that we’ve paid Newcastle but again we’ve been relying on Vardy to get all the goals really and we need to spread it out
“I wouldn't say that the market is shut at the moment. Obviously Brendan has got targets to strengthen. He'd be looking to trim the squad at the moment rather than extend it.
“We're pretty much covered in most positions now with class players. Obviously it would be late in the day if Harry Maguire had to go, that would be a bit of a headache.
“Let's wait to see on that one. Filip Benkovic obviously worked with Brendan at Celtic and he saw something in him, so in that situation maybe he gets phased into the squad.
“Wes Morgan has still got experience to get through matches and is still a key part of the club. We'll see whether we go into the market for another signing.
“Lewis Dunk and James Tarkowski have been mentioned. I don't know what they'll do but I know they've got a contingency plan. Rodgers is a clever young manager so I'm sure he's got that covered.”
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